Financial planners are currently in a bit of a limbo as they wait for legislation changes that’ll reduce paperwork requirements, a welcome change that will save on costs and time.
But whilst legislation changes bring relief, the financial planning industry continues to shrink – a 38% reduction in the last 3 years, according to Rainmaker.
This skills shortage brings its own challenges for advisors, including:
Outsourcing paraplanning work can be the answer to many of these challenges, and we sat down with our Partner of Paraplanning & Mortgage, Deepthi Viswanathan, to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of outsourced paraplanning.
Outsourced paraplanning services often cost 50% less than onshore hires, saving firms a significant amount of money.
Employing in-house staff also requires extra costs when it comes to retention efforts. Activities such as team building days, holiday parties, and improved benefits can decrease profit margins. Outsourcing means that firms will be spending less on staffing and can put their profits towards growth instead.
Outsourcing removes the need for in-house team members to train and manage staff. Training often reduces productivity for months as employees take time out of their schedules to manage new staff and review their work. And even when staff are trained, oversight of their activities and work takes time.
When firms outsource, the training is done by the provider. At SuperRecords, our paraplanning staff undergo constant training, and all managers are RG-146 certified and are required to accrue 40 CPD points annually.
Outsourcing allows firms to scale much easier and quicker. At SuperRecords, we’re constantly hiring and training staff so that they’re ready to hit the ground running when firms and advisors want to add extra support.
With multiple ways to engage with us, contract terms are flexible and give clients the flexibility to decrease or increase support when they need to.
The industry is constantly evolving, so it can be hard and costly for firms to keep up. Outsourcing allows firms to utilise the latest technology and reap the benefits without the added costs as providers take on this burden instead.
At SuperRecords, we’re working on new automation that reduces turnaround times, such as automating fact finding portals.
Finding an outsourcing provider that works with you is important, as the right one will support long-term growth. Deepthi shares that it’s common for our teams to look at your current workflows and processes and close any gaps they identify – we’re always able to customise to your needs.
Outsourcing comes with many advantages, but there are also areas of concern or risk that firms should be aware of. It’s vital that firms work with reputable providers so that they mitigate these concerns.
Not having direct access to teams to monitor their productivity is now less of a concern thanks to the success of remote work – most managers are now well-versed in overseeing remote workers.
SuperRecords itself utilises a secure and transparent workflow portal that allows clients to view live updates and job statuses so that they’re always aware of what’s going on behind the scenes.
Managing an offshore team is similar to managing an on-site team – right? Not quite. The learning curve is less steep and less time is needed to manage staff.
At SuperRecords, it only takes our clients 1-2 weeks to complete onboarding, meet their offshore team, and start sending work to us. After that, all that clients need to do is put a small bit of time aside to compile the documents to send to us (no need to sort the files, our teams will find them) and then to review the completed work we send back. We take care of the day-to-day team management so that you don’t have to.
With the increasing risk of breaches, it’s vital for firms to work with providers that prioritise security.
We’ve invested in our security protocols so that your data is safe as houses with us. Our security measures include:
Our Paraplanning team has supported hundreds of financial advisors with SOAs, ROAs, and support services such as corresponding with insurance underwriting teams, setting up new super accounts, preparing annual review documents, and much more.
With over a hundred paraplanning staff on board, our team is ready to jump in when you want to start delegating paraplanning work. If you’d like to know more about how we can boost your capacity, improve your productivity, and drive maximum efficiency, you can book a chat with us today.
Found this blog useful? You can check out some of our other resources for financial planners: